Tag Archive for: benefits

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10 Reasons to Read With Your Child

10 Reasons to Read With Your Child
The benefits from parents reading with children are profound and life-changingThere are a many reasons why every parent should regularly read with their children. The benefits to children are profound and some are effectively life-changing, so this is something really important that every parent should do for their child. Let’s take a look at the facts, proven by study after study across the world …

1. A Fun Way to be Quietly Educated

Reading with your child is a really fun and immersive way for a child to be educated yet it happens in a very natural way that doesn’t feel in any way like studying, nor like a formal lesson. It can also be a fun ‘escape’ for the parent!

2. A Massive Boost to Language Skills

Regularly reading with your child has been proven to increase their language skills by an impressive 20%. In a study by the Nuffield Foundation using data stretching back over 40 years, children aged on average 3¼ years old were found to have boosted language skills by the equivalent of 8 months of early years education. That’s a huge leap given their very young age.

3. Reading Helps Learning in Every Other Area

Reading with an adult boosts language skills and improves overall literacyBoosting language skills in this way, during their critically-important pre-school years, will help them in every other discipline and topic. After all, if they have a better understanding of language, they will pick up instructions, information and knowledge much more easily. Reading directly teaches children about the world, giving them greater knowledge of a wider range of topics — and this can only stand them in good stead going forwards.

4. Better Literacy Overall

Reading with an adult helps children to grasp phonetics, letter patterns and syllables, greatly improving word recognition and reading methodology. With an adult present and reading a shared book together, the child can ask questions and the adult can point out important details about word structure, grammar, sentence structure and punctuation. The parent will soon learn where the child needs additional help and focus too. In this way, the child will learn to read more thoroughly and progress more quickly in multiple areas of learning. Their overall communication, reading, writing and literacy will improve far more quickly because of the adult facilitation.

5. Increased Creativity Through Stimulated Imaginations

Creativity is also boosted when children are encouraged to read. After all, if they read more, they will be exposed to a wider range of storytelling and this, in itself, will give them a window into creativity, hugely stimulating their imaginations.

6. More Empathy & Better Social Skills

Regularly reading boosts empathy and social skillsChildren can develop a greater feeling of empathy if they have explored more books with parents or carers. As they discover different characters and scenarios, they’ll learn to feel for some of those characters and perhaps the predicaments that some get themselves into. Improving feelings of empathy can only be a good thing, leading to better social skills, closer bonds with others and a good grasp in regard to what’s right and what’s wrong.

7. It Levels the Socio-Economic Playing Field

Reading with children in their early years is also a great social leveller. By that, we mean that the performance boost they receive through reading with adults evens things up between children from lower socio-economic backgrounds and those from higher ones. Reading evens up the playing field and by a significant amount.

8. Greater Preparedness for School

In turn, all the above benefits are sure to set children in good stead when they start school at the age of around five. With the greater language skills and knowledge gleaned through reading at a higher level, they will hit the ground running more easily when they begin school.

9. A Long-Term Boost to Education, Careers & Life Choices

In turn again, this boost when they start school will have an impact on their success during school and likely past school into higher education. Where they have been streamed at school, the educational boost they will have had earlier in their lives will positively impact their level of education at every subsequent stage. Ultimately, that could well lead to better outcomes, careers and quality of life when they reach adulthood. That’s an enormous benefit, simply because parents were actively involved in their reading.

10. Closer Bonds Between Parent & Child

Reading with a baby or toddler is a great way to form a closer bondReading regularly together will also lead to a closer bond between parent and child. This has been proven in studies. It’s good quality time, spent together in a common venture. The subject matter of the reading can also be a great discussion point between the two individuals going forwards.

Read with children, not just to them — the biggest benefits come when parent and child are both proactively involved.

Reading at Leaps & Bounds Day Nursery, Edgbaston (Birmingham)

We take all of this on board at Leaps & Bounds Day Nursery in Edgbaston. Indeed, reading with children is all part of the EYFS curriculum at the nursery. We work on reading with the children ourselves, involving them in interactive ways including inviting input, asking questions and encouraging feedback from them throughout. Of course, we also encourage parents of babies and children under our care to actively involve themselves in their child’s education, including in their reading when at home. As we have seen, there are so many benefits for the child if they do this. Outcomes are so positively affected that parental input at home is crucial for their children’s life-long outcomes.

Leaps & Bounds Day Nursery is in Edgbaston, near Birmingham, Ladywood, Bearwood & Harborne B16Leaps & Bounds Nursery is rated as a Good Provider of childcare by Ofsted.Please get in touch if you are interested in a possible place for your baby, toddler or under-five child at one of Birmingham’s best nurseries and pre-schools. The nursery is close to Ladywood, Bearwood, Harborne and Birmingham. You can email/message or book a visit to the nursery here, or call 0121 246 4922 to speak to us (please leave a message if you reach voicemail and we’ll call you back). We look forward to hearing from you.

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The Benefits of Breastfeeding for Mum & Baby

The Benefits of Breastfeeding for Mum & Baby

“Breast milk is nature’s perfect baby food. It contains immunity-boosting antibodies and healthy enzymes that scientists have yet to replicate” (Parents.com)

When it comes to breastfeeding, there are multiple benefits for both mother and baby. Indeed, the list of benefits is incredibly long, as we’ll see below. For one reason or another, though, not every mother ends up breastfeeding and that’s absolutely fair enough. After all, we’re all different and it’s also a very personal issue in any case. Some mums have physiological problems with the whole thing, other mums simply don’t like the idea of it and there are many additional reasons why breastfeeding simply isn’t an option for many. That’s all a given, so this article is here as a guide just to help keep parents as informed as possible.
Breastfeeding has been shown to benefit both mother and baby, in an incredible variety of ways …

Breastfeeding benefits for babies

Mother feeding babyFor babies that are breastfeed, there are many potential health benefits including a lower susceptibility to some diseases and to infections.

  • Breastfeeding allows antibodies to be passed on to the infant. This is especially important as a way to counter the threat of viruses.
  • Breast milk also contains proteins, vitamins, minerals, fats and hormones, all of which help with healthy development.
  • The long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids found in breast milk help young brains to develop.
  • Some studies suggest that infants who have been breastfed for at least 6 months are statistically less likely to develop childhood leukaemia.
  • When breastfed during the first 3 months, infants are also less likely to develop childhood asthma or allergic rhinitis.
  • Indeed, continuing to breastfeed when infants start eating solids may even protect them from developing some food allergies.
  • Infants who are breastfed are also less likely to develop wheezing and severe eczema.
  • Breast milk reduces the risk of the child developing ear infections, respiratory infections, gastrointestinal infections and diarrhoea.
  • It can also protect infants from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (‘SADS’).
  • Breastfeeding also helps premature babies by reducing the risk of them developing Necrotising Enterocolitis or ‘NEC’, a potentially serious bowel disorder.
  • Many of breast milk’s benefits last right into adulthood.

Breastfeeding benefits for mums

Breast milk benefits both growging babies and their mumsMums also benefit hugely from breastfeeding:

  • Breastfeeding helps to reduce the risk of obesity in mothers.
  • It also lowers their risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.
  • Mothers who breastfeed are also statistically less likely to develop ovarian cancer, breast cancer, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.
  • Breastfeeding also helps the uterus to return to its normal size.
  • The periods of mothers who breastfeed return later than those of mums who don’t. This difference can be useful for family planning purposes.
  • Breastfeeding is a perfect way for new mums and babies to form a close bond, naturally.

Practical benefits of breastfeeding

  • As the most natural food for newborns, babies tend to simply enjoy the taste of breast milk, almost without exception.
  • Breastfeeding requires no preparation and so feeding can take place virtually anywhere, any time.
  • Breast milk is free, so saves families money at what can be an expensive time.
  • Unlike formula milk, the taste and make-up of breast milk naturally changes as time goes by. For this reason, breast milk naturally encourages babies to enjoy a variety of tastes, which in turn helps when it comes to weaning them onto solids.
  • Breast milk is perfectly tailored to your baby and adapts to suit them as they grow. That’s incredible when you think about it.
  • Breastfeeding is a natural way for your baby to feed no more and no less than he or she really needs to. That’s perhaps the most natural way to regulate food intake.
  • As a totally natural and sustainable food source, breastfeeding is also incredibly ‘green’. Indeed, World Breastfeeding Week (‘WBW’) earlier this August saw that 2020’s theme was “Support breastfeeding for a healthier planet”. WBW 2020 focussed on the impact of feeding on the environment and climate change, showing breastfeeding to be incredibly healthy for both people and planet.

More information about the benefits of, and myths around, breastfeeding is available at the NHS site.

Baby feeding at Leaps & Bounds Day Nursery

At Leaps & Bounds Day Nursery in Edgbaston, parents have the choice of supplying either formula milk or breast milk. If supplying breast milk, we suggest bottles should be supplied in a suitable cool bag with their child’s name clearly identified. If supplying formula milk, they need not make the milk up; supplying the formula powder is fine and nursery staff will then freshly make up bottles of milk at the appropriate feeding times. Leaps & Bounds is also a breastfeeding-friendly zone — we are always happy to accommodate nursing mums and can arrange a private space for them to breastfeed their child whenever needed.

Nursery places near Birmingham, Edgbaston, Harborne, Ladywood, Bearwood & Smethwick

Are you looking for childcare for your baby or under-five child in and around Edgbaston, Birmingham, Harborne, Ladywood, Bearwood or Smethwick? Leaps & Bounds is an outstanding nursery and pre-school offering high quality childcare in Edgbaston, Birmingham. At time of writing, we have places available, so do get in touch if you’d like to learn more about the nursery and its suitability for your child. Call 0121 246 4922 or contact us/arrange a visit here. We’ll be delighted to tell you more and to show you around very soon.

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